In the bottom video, I love the part where the usher is peeking through the door and then throws the doors open just in time for the Crown Prince to walk through. I wish we could all enter rooms that way! (along with trumpet fanfare) BTW, Frederik was smiling all through the walk into the room and looked great to me.

many thanks for the link.
i reckon it should be pretty boring standing in line and shaking hands with all the diplomats...not a official duty i would look forward to...
if you don't mind, i have some questions:
how come frederik always wears the navy uniform? does he have special links with the navy sector of the danish army or... as you yourself wrote yesterday, it has been chosen bc it is the coolest uniform of the lot ?
how come joachim and marie do not attend this event?

many thanks for the link.
i reckon it should be pretty boring standing in line and shaking hands with all the diplomats...not a official duty i would look forward to...
if you don't mind, i have some questions:
how come frederik always wears the navy uniform? does he have special links with the navy sector of the danish army or... as you yourself wrote yesterday, it has been chosen bc it is the coolest uniform of the lot ?
how come joachim and marie do not attend this event?

Come on, FasterB & Sternchen It's a dress, what do I know about dresses?

Frederik has a pretty close association to the navy. Partly through his grandfather Frederik IX, whom he resemble so much. Frederik IX was known as the Sailor King, and with good reason.
Also, Frederik served in the navy onboard a patrol frigate in the North Atlantic.
He also served in the Frogman Corps, which belongs to the navy.
On top of that he is pretty fond of the sea and sailing.

And as you point out, the navy uniform is the smartest looking. - It can certainly make some of you drool heavily.

Come on, FasterB & Sternchen It's a dress, what do I know about dresses?

Frederik has a pretty close association to the navy. Partly through his grandfather Frederik IX, whom he resemble so much. Frederik IX was known as the Sailor King, and with good reason.
Also, Frederik served in the navy onboard a patrol frigate in the North Atlantic.
He also served in the Frogman Corps, which belongs to the navy.
On top of that he is pretty fond of the sea and sailing.

And as you point out, the navy uniform is the smartest looking. - It can certainly make some of you drool heavily.

indeed it does !
on a more serious level, thanks for your explanation! i had heard about his love for sports and sailing in particular, but had not idea really that he had been serving in the navy.

Notice the three pictures in the beginning of this series of the Guards Hussars.

In the first pictures we see a troop of the squadron present. Notice the officer nearest us. He is riding a horse in a color that is different from the troopers under his command. The purpose is for the troopers to easier spot him in the heat of battle. - And surprisingly perhaps, also for the horses. Old cavalry horses would instinctively follow the horse of the officer in charge of their squadron, because they were used to that.

In the second picture we see the signalmen, with their officer to the right of them. They are called trompeters, not buglars or hornblowers.
Notice how their horses is different in color from the officer, and the rest of the troop/squadron the signalman belongs to. Again, so that the officer could quickly locate his signalman in battle.
Apart from that their "svejf", the adornment on their headgear, which is called a kepi, is white, in contrast to the officer (and the rest of the squadron), who wear a red "svejf". The "svejf" is supposed to resemble the mane of a horse.

In the third picture we can again see the signalmen nearest us. They ride white/grey horses, while the rest of the squadron ride brown horses. Their "svejfs" are red, while the rest of the squadron wear white "svejfs".
Old cavalry horses would in many cases know the signals better than the troopers. And they would obey the signal regardless of what their silly rider was attempting to do...

If you look at the pictures of the honor guard from the Royal Lifeguard, you will notice the signalmen on the right flank. The Royal Lifegaurd regiment was originally a heavy line infantry regiment (grenadiers actually) and as such they use drummers as signalmen, rather than hornblowers, which would be used by light infantry.
Fifers (the ones who play a little pipe) are always teamed up with the drummers. The job of fifers were to play tunes on the march and keep up a good spirit, but also to play tunes as a salute.
The fifers and drummers always play the "Colour March", whenever a members of the DRF pass by, because that march is also a salute.

Fifers and drummers are signalmen and as such they have nothing t do with the regimental mussic corps.

He got his nickname Pingo from his time in the Frogman corps IIRC he also got his tatoo during that time Didn't he serve with Jeppe Handwerk? And Jeppe is also a godfather to Christian

That's right.
He got his tatoo of somewhat fat shark in that period. Jeppe Handwerk also served in the Frogman Corps, he was as far as I remember, not an aspirant at the same time as Frederik.
The name Pingo stems from an incident where Frederik's divingsuit had a hole and was filled with water. And wearing flippers, he resembled a popular penquin at that time when walking. Hence his nickname.

Frederik's recieved his static as well as free fall jumptraining at the army special forces, Jægerkorpset.

There was a brief segment on the 12.00 news and apart from Mary not being there and the presence of quite a number of Australian reporters, this court went ahead as usual.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eliz

how come joachim and marie do not attend this event?

Okay, in order to answer that question, we need to go back to the mindset people had when this tradition started, back in the time of Absolutism.

Joachim do not attend, because he is not the Crown Prince.

These courts (apart from the diplomatic and the court for the government) are for high ranking civil servants and military personel, who have this opportunity to say hi to their boss. Their boss is of course the Monarch, and the future boss is the Crown Prince, and it's good idea to greet both of them - and to let them get to know you are....

From the perspective of the Monarch it's also a statement: "Hi, I'm your boss. - This is my son, and he'll be your next boss. Just in case you should be the least bit in doubt"!
Having a junior prince present, would send out a confusing picture: - "Did you notice Prince Joachim was there as well"? "Yeah, odd. Perhaps the Crown Prince is no longer a favourite of Margrethe"? "Hmm, might be a good idea to suck up to Joachim instead". Get the idea?

From those who go to a court it's also a statement: "Look at me. I went to a New Year Court. - Yep, that's how important and high up the ranks I am".

There was a brief segment on the 12.00 news and apart from Mary not being there and the presence of quite a number of Australian reporters, this court went ahead as usual.

Okay, in order to answer that question, we need to go back to the mindset people had when this tradition started, back in the time of Absolutism.

Joachim do not attend, because he is not the Crown Prince.

These courts (apart from the diplomatic and the court for the government) are for high ranking civil servants and military personel, who have this opportunity to say hi to their boss. Their boss is of course the Monarch, and the future boss is the Crown Prince, and it's good idea to greet both of them - and to let them get to know you are....

From the perspective of the Monarch it's also a statement: "Hi, I'm your boss. - This is my son, and he'll be your next boss. Just in case you should be the least bit in doubt"!
Having a junior prince present, would send out a confusing picture: - "Did you notice Prince Joachim was there as well"? "Yeah, odd. Perhaps the Crown Prince is no longer a favourite of Margrethe"? "Hmm, might be a good idea to suck up to Joachim instead". Get the idea?

From those who go to a court it's also a statement: "Look at me. I went to a New Year Court. - Yep, that's how important and high up the ranks I am".

perfectly explained, thank you.
i didn't know it was loaded with such a symbolism, i just thought it was something as an "innocent party" to celebrate the new year and that is why i was thinking that the junior prince and other members of the family would have attended as well. of course if it is a meeting between boss and employee, so to speak, joachim being there, or any other member of the family being there, simply does make sense.